Ancient Farming Techniques Are Climate-Proofing Today's Agriculture
In the Bolivian Andes, the low-water growing practices used by Mayans and Aztecs are making a comeback.
By: Peter Yeung
August 13, 2021
3 min read
“My parents and grandparents have tilled these lands for generations,” says Irene Grajeda, a 32-year-old member of the Sikimira community whose family ties to this part of the Bolivian Andes date back at least two centuries. “But the climate has changed a lot. Rain patterns have changed dramatically. The rainy season is shorter and there is less rain water for us.”
Grajeda, a mother of four, is among the 25 Indigenous families living in this area’s remote, mountainside villages, where basic agriculture and charcoal production have long been a major source of income. But while in the recent past the villagers used chemical fertilizers for farming fruits and vegetables to consume and sell, these methods could do nothing to prevent the severe water shortages during the region’s dry season, which is becoming more intense and longer every year — it once began in June, but now starts in April.
To adapt to their new seasonal reality, the people of Cochabamba shifted their approach to a more sustainable model: the drip irrigation and hydroponic practices pioneered by their ancestors, which use a fraction of the water of modern farming techniques. For hundreds of thousands of years, ancient hydroponic practices created by the Aztecs and Mayans helped to sustain their civilizations in tough conditions. Now faced with the growing threat of climate change, which has led to increasingly extreme weather and made precious water even harder to come by, these communities are turning to the same age-old techniques. As a result, in a place where poverty and malnutrition have been historically high, incomes are rising and nutritional health is improving.
“It’s a very isolated community and there was a huge rate of malnutrition in the area before,” says Lionel Vigil, Latin America regional director for World Neighbors, an international non-profit that has provided training and support. “Historically, the rich took all the fertile land in Bolivia. The soil is very poor in terms of nutrients.”
More:
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/farming-techniques-against-climate-change/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Gotta say, that's impressive 
